Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
U.S. Air Quality Improves, But Other Countries Are Safer. Over 110M Americans Live In Counties With Unhealthy Levels Of Pollution.
The New York Times: America’s Skies Have Gotten Clearer, But Millions Still Breathe Unhealthy Air
When asked about climate change, President Trump often shifts the focus to America’s “clean air.” “We have the cleanest air in the world in the United States and it’s gotten better since I’m president,” he said again this month while meeting with Prime Minister Leo Varadkar of Ireland. America’s air is much cleaner than it used to be, but it’s still not “the cleanest.” And recent data suggests that air pollution is ticking back up. (Popovich, 6/19)
Stat: Experimental Drug For Women Revives An Intense Debate On Sexual Desire
Cancer therapies should shrink tumors. Diabetes treatments ought to lower blood sugar. But what should society expect from drugs for sexual desire? In the coming days, the Food and Drug Administration will decide whether to approve an injection meant to increase women’s drive for sex. Its demonstrated effects are modest, but some doctors say the drug would meet a real need for thousands of women. Others, however, argue it is simply pharmaceutical overreach, another effort that reduces the complexity of human sexuality to a set of measurable dots on a chart. (Garde, 6/20)
The New York Times: Rotavirus Vaccine May Help Protect Against Type 1 Diabetes
Rotavirus disease is a highly contagious virus that can cause severe illness and death in infants and young children, but there is a vaccine that is highly effective in preventing it. A large new study confirms previous research suggesting that the vaccine may have an added benefit: lowering the risk for Type 1 diabetes. About 1.3 million Americans have Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that usually arises in childhood, and there are an estimated 40,000 new cases each year. (Bakalar, 6/19)
The Wall Street Journal: New Study Links Toxic Sept. 11 Dust To Prostate Cancer
Physicians and researchers have long known that men exposed to toxic dust after the collapse of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, may have an increased risk of developing prostate cancer. The challenge has been to provide a link between exposure and the cancer. In a new study out Thursday, researchers from Mount Sinai found that World Trade Center responders with prostate cancer showed signs that inflammation was activated in the prostate after exposure to the toxic dust. (West, 6/20)
PBS NewsHour: Why The Race To Stop The Next Flu Outbreak Starts At State Fairs And The Beach
Public health officials agree the constantly mutating influenza virus has the potential to cause a major outbreak and a deadly global crisis. For the second part of the NewsHour’s series on preparing for such a pandemic, we examine how research and testing depends on animals. (Brangham, 6/19)
The New York Times: Boarding Now: Parents Of Children With Food Allergies
A recent government ruling may transform air travel for passengers with life-threatening food allergies by extending to them the protections afforded other individuals with disabilities. In September 2016, gate agents for American Airlines refused Nicole Mackenzie’s request to preboard a flight from Portland, Ore., to Charlotte, N.C., to clean the area around the seat assigned to her seven-year-old daughter, who has life-threatening nut and seed allergies. (Rabin, 6/19)
The Washington Post: Australian Researchers Find 'Horns' Growing On Young People's Skulls From Phone Overuse
Mobile technology has transformed the way we live — how we read, work, communicate, shop and date. But we already know this. What we have not yet grasped is the way the tiny machines in front of us are remolding our skeletons, possibly altering not just the behaviors we exhibit but the bodies we inhabit. (Stanley-Becker, 6/20)
Kaiser Health News: Stem Cell Company Persuades Employers To Steer Workers Toward Controversial Therapy
A Midwestern grocery chain, Hy-Vee, is taking an unusual — and highly controversial — approach to reducing health care costs. Before employees in certain cities can undergo knee replacement, they first must visit a stem cell provider. Hy-Vee has contracted with one of the United States’ leading stem cell companies — Regenexx, based in Des Moines, Iowa — that claims injections of concentrated bone marrow or platelets can help patients avoid expensive joint surgery. (Szabo, 6/20)
WBUR: When Surgeons Are Abrasive To Co-Workers, Patients' Health May Suffer
The study, which looked at interactions between surgeons and their teams, found that patients of surgeons who behaved unprofessionally around their colleagues tended to have more complications after surgery. Surgeons who model unprofessional behavior can undermine the performance of their teams, the authors write, potentially threatening patients' safety. (Neilson, 6/19)
The New York Times: The Need For Clinical Trial Navigators
Since a Phase I trial has prolonged my life for almost seven years, I find it perplexing that fewer than 5 percent of adult American cancer patients enroll in clinical studies. Why do so few people — with various stages and types of cancer — participate in research that can improve care? One obstacle may be the baffling scaffolding scientists erect around their studies. For example, cancer is a disease of aging, but many clinical trials on cancer drugs exclude older people from participating. (Gubar, 6/20)
